An examinee smiles while waiting outside a venue of the national college entrance examination in Yuncheng City, north China's Shanxi Province, June 7, 2008. China's three-day national college entrance examinations began on Saturday.

    BEIJING, June 7 (Xinhua) -- About 10 million graduating high school students are sitting in the world's largest state-organized tests for college entrance while a small portion who were most affected by the massive earthquake in Sichuan get a grace period.

    The Ministry of Education (MOE) said a record number of 10.5 million students have registered for attending the national College Entrance Examination (CEE), which is scheduled from June 7-9 in most parts of China.

    The state education authorities also asked nationwide colleges to offer two percent more entrance seats than what they previously planned for Sichuan examinees. Students who were brave in rescue and relief work would be preferred in college enrolment this summer.

    Meanwhile, the ministry allows students in the quake-hit areas, including 45 counties in Sichuan and 17 counties in Gansu, to havea grace period to offset physical and psychological effect resulting from the 8.0-magnitude tremor, which happened on May 12 with Wen chuan County of Sichuan as being epicenter and claimed at least 69,130 lives.

    The ministry did not specify when the postponed CEE schedule would be. It said the new date will be announced after June 9, but the postponed tests are estimated to be organized in a month.

    Students in other Sichuan counties and adjacent provinces who were also affected by the earthquake are required to sit in the tests after local governments make everything possible to ensure their safety if aftershock hits.

    Local governments in Shaanxi Province and Chongqing Municipality carefully checked the safety of existing school buildings, make-shift houses and tents where harbor student examinees.

    The ministry also asked local education authorities to organize emergency rehearsals near test sites. Test inspectors, usually school teachers and education officials were required to help students evacuate and leave behind students if major after-shocks do happen.

    While saying nationwide colleges provide 5.99 million higher learning slots, also the highest number, for the candidates, the ministry underscored severe punishment for students found cheating during tests.

    The ministry particularly listed cheating with aid of electronic devices as a cause of disqualifying college entrance of wrongdoers.